Pillars of Eternity

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Pillars of Eternity

GetWellGamers: Apr 11, 2006; The Get-Well Gamers Foundation: Touching Kids Everywhere!

Well, it's worth noting it's an Action-RPG with couch Co-op, which seems to be becoming a rarer and rarer thing these days.

And just personally I quite enjoyed it.

# ? Jan 1, 2014 19:09

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 04:37

Sylphosaurus: Sep 6, 2007

Boggus posted:

Just make Chris Avellone write the romances. All of them.

So every romance will end up with a broken heart, grudges and a general loss of your faith in this strange emotion called love? I can roll with that!

# ? Jan 1, 2014 23:23

MartianAgitator: Apr 30, 2003; Damn Earth! Damn her!

GetWellGamers posted:

Well, it's worth noting it's an Action-RPG with couch Co-op, which seems to be becoming a rarer and rarer thing these days.

And just personally I quite enjoyed it.

I enjoy it too, but all the things that make it great aren't what make a great game. That is, gameplay is slow and kludgey, animations take too long and the pacing is more like Baldur's Gate than Diablo. I find it fun in spite of these things but no Diablo-clone is going to look to DS3 for gameplay ideas.

The things that ARE good are the things you already know Obsidian is good at: it's not a story about killing God, it has politics that have interesting reverberations in the world, your characters have a real place in the world rather than being a small-town boy whose village is immediately destroyed, and it has legit moral grayness. ("Legit moral grayness" means that they have made a complex world and populated it with identifiable characters rather than the Bioware-style easily-explained world that they then try to throw complex situations into, that of course seem out of place and awkward.) The character building choices are also interesting but far from earth-shaking.

But if you've played DS1 or DS2 it is absolutely hilarious to compare all the world-building Obsidian did to the earlier games.

# ? Jan 2, 2014 04:43

DatonKallandor: Aug 21, 2009; "I can no longer sit back and allow nationalist shitposting, nationalist indoctrination, nationalist subversion, and the German nationalist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious game balance."

It does have some hilarious dumb UI decisions though - like forcing players to stay on the same screen even when they're playing coop from different computers. You can hack the game and disable it, but it's stupid that it's the default anyway. There's also some dumb camera decisions and UI issues.

The gameplay is solid though, especially the whole power-up mechanic that's very much like EX moves in fighting games.

# ? Jan 2, 2014 13:24

Aratoeldar: Mar 21, 2005

Mr ropekid, would you please let us know if we can name our saved games slots?

# ? Jan 3, 2014 05:04

Octo1: May 7, 2009

And whether or not saves for different characters would be displayed/grouped separately from each other? It's annoying when you have multiple characters but just one list.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 06:07

Chairchucker: Nov 14, 2006; to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022

Yes! Playing Skyrim now and it's such a nuisance having to figure out which of my characters a save is for.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 06:14

fuck off Batman: Oct 14, 2013; Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!

Chairchucker posted:

Yes! Playing Skyrim now and it's such a nuisance having to figure out which of my characters a save is for.

I had the same problem with Diablo, so glad they fixed it in 2 along with formations.

Aratoeldar posted:

Mr ropekid, would you please let us know if we can name our saved games slots?

I actually kinda miss this, even though most of my saves were named fgdgds and new.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 06:43

Mr.Pibbleton: Feb 3, 2006; Aleuts rock, chummer.

Disco Infiva posted:

I had the same problem with Diablo, so glad they fixed it in 2 along with formations.

I actually kinda miss this, even though most of my saves were named fgdgds and new.

I had saves in Icewind Dale II named "Oh god I keep on starting new games." :smith:

# ? Jan 3, 2014 06:57

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Yes, you will be able to name your games and the saves will be grouped by PC. Additionally, Trial of Iron save games use a metal texture instead of wood. :getin:

# ? Jan 3, 2014 08:18

Furism: Feb 21, 2006; Live long and headbang

My Wizard will definitively use Guns.

J.E. Sawyer on 1/1/2014 2:34 PM posted:

Correct. Any class can use any gear, though classes often have bonuses with specific types of weapons (e.g. wizards gain bonuses with wands, rods, and sceptres via their Blast passive AoE ability).

Little bit of lore!

J.E. Sawyer on 1/1/2014 8:43 PM posted:

quote:
Hello there everyone! Another item backer here.
A few questions for Josh regarding the backstory of my planned item.
Even though I'm creating a backstory for an item, some part of it regards the character who wielded it and therefor have questions relating to that.

1. Naming an orlan. I looked at your post a few pages back regarding names and they seemed to be categorized culturally (or regionally) and not racially. Does that mean an orlan could very well have the same name as a human (or did I totally missunderstand?)? And is it possible to PM the (two) names that occur in the back story of my item to see if they fit the setting at all (I think my names might be way offside)?

2. Military.
a)What can you say about the military structures in (or around) Dyrwood? Are there any armies (or perhaps slightly smaller units; regiment or brigades)?
b)If yes, are they structured like our armies are/were?
c)Are there any military forts (or equivalent) in Dyrwood?
d)Are the military units (regardless of size, I assume there are atleast minor units such as companies) tied to individuals (a warlord, a baron, a king, etc) or to a certain region or country?

3. Does lions exist in this setting?

1. Yes, people in the same culture often share names, regardless of race. Orlans dominantly come from a few areas: Eir Glanfath (where they tend to have Glanfathan names), the Dyrwood (Glanfathan or Aedyran names), and Ixamitl (loosely, Nahautl names). PM me your ideas.

2.

a) There are quite a few military structures/fortified areas in the Dyrwood ranging from fortified cities to castles. The Dyrwood does not have a standing army, but many erls keep professional soldiers organized in groups the size of a platoon or (for high-conflict areas) a company even during peacetime. The Saint's War was fought in part by these private armies but dominantly with peasant soldiers. The Dozen, the twelve men and women who held Dana Eobhainn Bridge to ensure the destruction of St. Waidwen, were all peasants.

b) More-or-less yes, though there may be a few differences. The "lieutenant" rank in the Dyrwood uses the title "steadman" but is functionally the same. There are no subdivisions of steadman, sergeant, or corporal ranks.

c) Yes. Fortified communities are not uncommon, especially near the Dyrwood/Eir Glanfath border.

d) Professional armies serve their employers, who often are nobles (though sometimes simply wealthy individuals). Of course, all of those nobles pledge (and re-pledge) to serve the will of their elected duc. This does not always work in practice. When nobles levy armies in the Dyrwood, they only lawfully do so under a ducal order of conscription. The service that peasants pledge is to the duc and their country, not individual nobles. In practice, they always serve under regional nobles (typically erls and thayns). Erls and thayns hold hereditary positions. Ducs are elected by the seven erls.

3. Lions exist in this world, but are exotic in the Dyrwood. Staelgar are the dominant big cat in Eir Glanfath and the Dyrwood. They have a tiger-like build, lion-like mane and tail, "sabre" teeth, and a dark spotted coat.

Disco Infiva posted:

I actually kinda miss this, even though most of my saves were named fgdgds and new.

Mine are more like "Save 1" and then "gently caress this poo poo", "Bollocks", etc.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 08:34

Aratoeldar: Mar 21, 2005

rope kid posted:

Yes, you will be able to name your games and the saves will be grouped by PC. Additionally, Trial of Iron save games use a metal texture instead of wood.

Thank you very much. :bravo:

# ? Jan 3, 2014 08:46

Wolfsheim: Dec 23, 2003; "Ah," Ratz had said, at last, "the artiste."

Furism posted:

Mine are more like "Save 1" and then "gently caress this poo poo", "Bollocks", etc.

I'm too OCD to just name my saves 'sdfgdsfg' and the like. I have to label the location and current activity every time, which leads to stuff like:

Wilderness - Gorion Dead

Nashkel - Getting Jumped

New Reno - Boxing

New Reno - Fluffing

Mortuary - Fake Zombie?

Dustmen Bar - Hanging Out

It feels like I'm updating the Nameless One's twitter or something but I can't stop :negative:

# ? Jan 3, 2014 09:08

Sleep of Bronze: Feb 9, 2013; If I could only somewhere find Aias, master of the warcry, then we could go forth and again ignite our battle-lust, even in the face of the gods themselves.

Mine follow a strict formula of [Number of times I've run a game with this archetype][Archetype][Number of saves so far under this combination] in pretty much every game that lets me name saves. 1Paranoid1 must be the beginning of a Torment game where I decided to follow in the footsteps of an illustrious predecessor; 4Fighter12 means I need to start working on being more specific about what I'm going to do with my character when I start random BG2 games; 3TheSwordCoastIsOurOyster25 means I like running with a crew of Chaotic Neutral and Evil weirdos in BG1 far too much.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 09:21

Chairchucker: Nov 14, 2006; to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022

Mine tend towards 'jerks', 'argh die in a fire' and for when I roll up a new party, 'new jerks'.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 11:06

Tumblr of scotch: Mar 13, 2006; Please, don't be my neighbor.

Furism posted:

Ixamitl (loosely, Nahautl names)

Game of the Year

# ? Jan 3, 2014 11:16

DatonKallandor: Aug 21, 2009; "I can no longer sit back and allow nationalist shitposting, nationalist indoctrination, nationalist subversion, and the German nationalist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious game balance."

rope kid posted:

Yes, you will be able to name your games and the saves will be grouped by PC. Additionally, Trial of Iron save games use a metal texture instead of wood.

Are you going to do a New Game+ with more awesome items and nastier encounter makeup like in Icewind Dale 2?

# ? Jan 3, 2014 11:30

Fintilgin: Sep 29, 2004; Fintilgin sweeps!

Chairchucker posted:

Yes! Playing Skyrim now and it's such a nuisance having to figure out which of my characters a save is for.

You know you can hit ~ and then type

quote:

save savename

right?

That's the only way I save in Skyrim/New Vegas, and I generally name them after whatever character I'm playing:
FintilginExplores
FintilginCave2

etc.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 13:10

Blotto Skorzany: Nov 7, 2008; He's a PSoC, loose and runnin'
came the whisper from each lip
And he's here to do some business with
the bad ADC on his chip
bad ADC on his chiiiiip

ropekid posted:

erls, thayns, ducs

Aww yiss that's what I'm tolkien aboot

# ? Jan 3, 2014 15:12

Gyshall: Feb 24, 2009; Had a couple of drinks.
Saw a couple of things.

rope kid posted:

Yes, you will be able to name your games and the saves will be grouped by PC. Additionally, Trial of Iron save games use a metal texture instead of wood.

GOTY

# ? Jan 3, 2014 16:06

Scorchy: Jul 15, 2006; Smug Statement: Elementary, my dear meatbag.

quote:

Correct. Any class can use any gear, though classes often have bonuses with specific types of weapons (e.g. wizards gain bonuses with wands, rods, and sceptres via their Blast passive AoE ability).

drat, was afraid of this. Was hoping to make a little AE blast every time my axe wizard hit something.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 17:03

fuck off Batman: Oct 14, 2013; Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah!

Chairchucker posted:

Yes! Playing Skyrim now and it's such a nuisance having to figure out which of my characters a save is for.

Fintilgin posted:

You know you can hit ~ and then type

right?

That's the only way I save in Skyrim/New Vegas, and I generally name them after whatever character I'm playing:
FintilginExplores
FintilginCave2

etc.

Disco Infiva posted:

I had the same problem with Diablo, so glad they fixed it in 2 along with formations.

Oh wow, this is embarrassing! For some reason I thought that he was joking about combat log saves, not save games. :saddowns:

# ? Jan 3, 2014 17:11

GreatGreen: Jul 3, 2007; That's not what gaslighting means you hyperbolic dipshit.

rope kid posted:

Yes, you will be able to name your games and the saves will be grouped by PC. Additionally, Trial of Iron save games use a metal texture instead of wood.

Tell whoever greenlit and implemented this feature that I am in love with them.

Make the text field default to "PCName - Timestamp" and I'll love him/her even more.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 17:30

Delusibeta: Aug 7, 2013; Let's ride together.

Did I ever finalise my pledge? I don't think so. :downs:

I'll probably wait a couple more weeks and then stick on an extra add-on on top.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 17:46

Parenthesis: Jan 3, 2013

rope kid posted:

Yes, you will be able to name your games and the saves will be grouped by PC. Additionally, Trial of Iron save games use a metal texture instead of wood.

Lovely, more RPGs should do this.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 18:18

GreatGreen: Jul 3, 2007; That's not what gaslighting means you hyperbolic dipshit.

Parenthesis posted:

Lovely, ~~more~~ literally every single RPG should do this.

There we go.

# ? Jan 3, 2014 18:54

CrookedB: Jun 27, 2011; Stupid newbee

https://twitter.com/jesawyer/status/419176708864872448

What's Persistence, I wonder?

# ? Jan 3, 2014 23:24

omeg: Sep 3, 2012

CrookedB posted:

What's Persistence, I wonder?

Whether an object is saved or not?

# ? Jan 4, 2014 00:17

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

My GDC Next talk (in video form) is free for a while.

http://gdcvault.com/play/1019680/Gathering-Your-Party-with-Project

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:00

GreatGreen: Jul 3, 2007; That's not what gaslighting means you hyperbolic dipshit.

Glad to see that inventory size is just a number that can be changed/modded by changing a single value instead of the inventory size being locked because of inventory UI art style or something.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:01

Megazver: Jan 13, 2006

rope kid posted:

My GDC Next talk (in video form) is free for a while.

http://gdcvault.com/play/1019680/Gathering-Your-Party-with-Project

Dope sweater, man.

So is that an ingame travel map at 7:12?

Megazver fucked around with this message at 01:20 on Jan 4, 2014

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:12

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

It's a mock-up for the world map, nowhere near final.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:22

Megazver: Jan 13, 2006

There were two people familiar with Darklands in the audience... out of how many?

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:49

coffeetable: Feb 5, 2006; TELL ME AGAIN HOW GREAT BRITAIN WOULD BE IF IT WAS RULED BY THE MERCILESS JACKBOOT OF PRINCE CHARLES

YES I DO TALK TO PLANTS ACTUALLY

rope kid posted:

My GDC Next talk (in video form) is free for a while.

http://gdcvault.com/play/1019680/Gathering-Your-Party-with-Project

Because you mention party NPC interactions in there: in the leaked Alien footage, there was a neat mechanic where you could respond to NPC's banter (if you wanted to) without it interrupting gameplay. Are you doing anything like that in PE?

(I guess it doesn't have as much value in PE because maintaining tension isn't as important as it'd be in an Aliens setting, but still)

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:52

Icept: Jul 11, 2001

rope kid posted:

My GDC Next talk (in video form) is free for a while.

http://gdcvault.com/play/1019680/Gathering-Your-Party-with-Project

The amount of "they get it" in this video is pretty much off the charts. The modernizations talked about are the in exactly the right areas: difficulty does not just tweak numbers, easing new players into the playstyle, diverse environments to reward exploration, efficient dialogue implementation used to make more meaningful conversations...

My only question is, do you think you could go back to doing heavily publisher mandated work after this?

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:56

Megazver: Jan 13, 2006

This was pretty interesting. Do tell us if your other talks become available for free, I've been wanting to watch them for a while now. Maybe on your answer Tumblr thingy, so that it doesn't get lost in the thread?

# ? Jan 4, 2014 01:58

Basic Chunnel: Sep 21, 2010; Jesus! Jesus Christ! Say his name! Jesus! Jesus! Come down now!

coffeetable posted:

Because you mention party NPC interactions in there: in the leaked Alien footage, there was a neat mechanic where you could respond to NPC's banter (if you wanted to) without it interrupting gameplay. Are you doing anything like that in PE?

(I guess it doesn't have as much value in PE because maintaining tension isn't as important as it'd be in an Aliens setting, but still)

I imagine substantial ambient bark conversations might be a bit out of their range, VA budget-wise.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 02:00

rope kid: Feb 3, 2001; Warte nur! Balde
Ruhest du auch.

Megazver posted:

There were two people familiar with Darklands in the audience... out of how many?

Maybe 30. The audience wasn't that big. GDC Next had a pretty low attendance overall.

coffeetable posted:

Because you mention party NPC interactions in there: in the leaked Alien footage, there was a neat mechanic where you could respond to NPC's banter (if you wanted to) without it interrupting gameplay. Are you doing anything like that in PE?

Nah, we're going to keep it BG-style for the most part.

Icept posted:

My only question is, do you think you could go back to doing heavily publisher mandated work after this?

With the right publisher and the right project, sure. Some publishers get weird ickies when they deal with RPGs because so few external producers have serious experience with them. They wind up asking for incredibly bad/not fun things because they don't really understand the genre (on PC, console, or otherwise).

# ? Jan 4, 2014 02:04

jivjov: Sep 13, 2007; But how does it taste? Yummy!; Dinosaur Gum

rope kid posted:

They wind up asking for incredibly bad/not fun things because they don't really understand the genre (on PC, console, or otherwise).

Well now I'm just super curious. What random poo poo do clueless publishers ask for in RPGs?

# ? Jan 4, 2014 02:25

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 04:37

Bettik: Jan 28, 2008; Space-age Rock Star

Thanks for letting us know the talk was available for viewing, rope kid - I enjoyed it!

I agree that based on it (and the recent site, and the backer updates, etc) I get a strong sense that Obsidian has a drat good handle on how to stretch the budget in the right directions. Making the (non-combat) interactions in the game text based affords such huge expressiveness at practically no cost (at least compared to say, a Mass Effect style game) that I really hope this will lead to a resurgence of using text as a communication medium in some corners of games. It's not suitable for the next Gears of War or whatever but surely it could be used better in character-heavy narrative based games than it is today.

# ? Jan 4, 2014 02:26

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